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Crispy Tofu Rice Bowls with Brussels Sprouts

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I have sprouts on the brain, apparently.

If you follow along on Instagram you’ll know that one of my most recent posts was these Parmesan Brussels that rock my world and make for a really yummy weeknight side dish. You also might remember that last year we made Momofuku’s Brussels with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette at the recommendation of my friend Emily, which was one of my favorite recipes of the entire year.

So “one of my favorite,” in fact, that I decided to turn them into a full meal because the vinaigrette is just so delicious. It has a fish sauce base (I use this one because I see it everywhere but people also like the Red Boat brand), which is admittedly funky, but really delicious once the sauce comes together, and not fishy at all. The punchy tangy/sweet/umami flavor of the vinaigrette soaks into the crispy tofu and Brussels, and all is right with the world.

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Swedish Gooey Chocolate Cake (Kladdkaka)

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We are starting with dessert first, today.

Because it’s Valentine’s week!

Now, to be incredibly clear, I don’t give a hoot about V-day. I fully get that it’s a fabricated holiday to get us to buy chocolate and cards and flowers and makes single people feel bad and moms of elementary schoolers annoyed.

Oh shit. This is my first year as a school mom. Do I have to DO something for Beck’s class? This is literally the first time I am considering this.

I just started hating Valentine’s Day, fun real life train of thought for you there (not fabricated, ugh, wish it was). But also, I don’t hate nice dinners. I don’t hate cooking for people I love year round, and I definitely don’t hate making lovely desserts. This gooey chocolate cake ticks a lot of boxes for me, the main one being that it is RIDICULOUSLY delicious and insanely simple.

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Lentil Bowls with Cauliflower and Tahini

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Continuing our month of vegetarian choices! I’m being extra careful to not use words like “cheat, guilt, good, bad,” and so on. I think that thought pattern surrounding food can be so damaging, but also I agree that in terms of physical health there are foods that are better for our bodies than others, if we’re talking lentils vs cheetos.

Now, in terms of mental health or happiness or convenience? We could go on all day about those things.

But today, instead of my not wanting you to have “cheat days,” we ARE talking lentils. I love lentils, but even if you don’t I think you could stomach these. They are SO flavorful (because salt) and honestly I could eat a bowl of them on their own. We made this into a fun bowl with bright pink pickled onions, a shortcut gremolata, and toasty roasty cauliflower, one of my favorite substitutes for meat because when roasted it has just the best texture.

The idea for this came from an Instagram account Jay follows but he couldn’t show me a recipe or the actual account or image (?), so he described a picture to me and this is what I came up with. So, if you made some amazing cauliflower bowls and this feels like a copycat, tell me! And I’ll credit you if it was your original image.

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Spicy Sausage Vodka Sauce

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HIHI how was your Christmas, or holiday, or break, or week, or weekend?

We had….all of those things. This was the first year that I can remember having all of our sisters in town from both of our families. We had family outing after family outing, happy hour(s), dinners out, gift exchanges, and a great deal of time spent discussing WHY Will insists on spitting up so much, and how on earth he’s gaining any weight. It’s a mystery, and a very gross one. I’ve never done so much laundry in my life.

Jay is mercifully, blissfully off the rest of this week, and I’m caught between wanting to 1. organize everything and let him hang out with the kids, 2. do absolutely nothing, and 3. send them all away so I can actually catch up on work for once in my life. I’m THINKING that there has to be a balance between those three things, but likely I’ll spend a ton of time thinking about it and not a ton of time accomplishing the things I really need to be doing.

What I will be doing, though, is cooking. I love cooking on holiday weeks, two or three meals per day and some snacks, trashing the kitchen, listening to music, all of it. This vodka sauce is one of my favorite weekend/holiday meals, and it’s perfect for this time of year – maybe even for New Year’s Eve if you’re staying in! It takes a bit of time because the sauce gets roasted in the oven, but the steps are simple and the results are SO worth it. We have spicy sausage, tangy vodka and tomatoes. Extra garlic, absolutely. After the sauce roasts we pink it up with heavy cream and toss it with pasta or zoodles if you’re starting your New Year’s resolutions early! Honestly the sauce is so good I could eat it plain.

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Easy Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies

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Five days until Christmas! I’m not usually a huge baker, but this year I’m allll about it. Dying to make a massive cookie plate with 87 items, that sort of thing. I’ve made a few new recipes in the last two weeks just to “check” aka have cookies all month, and this is one of the recipes that I’m absolutely making again this week.

It’s regular sugar cookies. Advertised as chewy, super easy to make, and a really perfect plain incarnation of a sugar cookie, in the best possible way. I think that fancy cookies have a place, but at Christmas I want things that taste regular, if that makes any sense at all.

I found this recipe on Add a Pinch, and used the dough as a base for the cookies. The recipe calls for rolling the dough into balls then baking that way (like snickerdoodles!), but I rolled the dough into logs instead, then sliced them over the course of a few days when I wanted fresh cookies. It worked perfectly and was easier than rolling the cookies individually into balls, although the result of that method looks a little bit fancier.

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